Lyrd Of The Ryngs - The Homies

[Grey_Wolf]

"Now I understand." said Merry."He just wanted to ride with Gandalf."

"Yes, I gather his curiousity will be satisfied now." said Aragorn."

[Grey_Wolf]

"Let's go!" said Gimli." He said for us not to tarry."

And off the whole company roared leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

Gandalf expertly drove Shadowfax the Harley, the plains rolling underneath them. After a hour they reached the Fords of Isen and the mound surrounded by a circle of M-16 combat rifles, underneath which the slain Bikers slept their eternal sleep, and soon it was behind them.

Pippin was recovering from the phone insident and the overflight of the Lawyer plane.

"How fast is he going?" asked Pippin. "Fast by the wind, but very smooth. And how well-oiled his wheels are!"
"He is driving now as fast as the swiftest bike could drive," answered Gandalf;"but that is not fast for him. The land is rising a little here, and is more broken than it was beyond the river. But see how the White Mountains are drawing near under the stars! Yonder are the Thrihyrne peaks like black spears. It will not be long before we reach the branching roads and come to the Deeping-coomb, where the battle was fought two nights ago."

[Grey_Wolf]

Pippin was silent again for a while. He heard Gandalf singing softly to himself, murmuring brief snatches of rhyme in many tongues, as the miles ran under them. At last the wizard passed into a song of which the hobbit caught the words: a few lines came clear to his ears through the rushing of the wind:

Tall ships and tall kings
Three times three,
What brought they from the foundered land
Over the flowing sea?
Seven stars and seven phones
And one white tree.


"What are you saying, Gandalf?" asked Pippin.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

"They are Rhymes of Lore. I doubt you have heard of them, but this one is of the Kings of Numenor."

[Grey_Wolf]

"No, not all," said Pippin. "And we have many of our own, which wouldn't interest you, perhaps. But I have never heard this one. What is it about - the seven stars and seven phones?"
"About the palantÃ*ri of the Kings of Old," said Gandalf.
"And what are they?"
"The name meant that which looks far away. The Orthanc-phone was one."
"Then it was not made, not made' - Pippin hesitated -"by the Enemy?"
"No," said Gandalf. "Nor by Saruman. It is beyond his art, and beyond Sauron's too. The palantÃ*ri came from beyond Westernesse from Eldamar. The Noldor made them. Fëanor himself, maybe, wrought them, in days so long ago that the time cannot be measured in years. But there is nothing that Sauron cannot turn to evil uses. Alas for Saruman! It was his downfall, as I now perceive. Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves. Yet he must bear the blame. Fool! to keep it secret, for his own profit. No word did he ever speak of it to any of the Council. We had not yet given thought to the fate of the palantÃ*ri of Gondor in its ruinous wars. By Men they were almost forgotten. Even in Gondor they were a secret known only to a few; in Arnor they were remembered only in a rhyme of lore among the Dúnedain."

[Grey_Wolf]

"What did the Men of old use them for?" asked Pippin, delighted and astonished at getting answers to so many questions, and wondering how long it would last.
"To see far off, and to converse in thought with one another," said Gandalf. "In that way they long guarded and united the realm of Gondor. They set up Phones at Minas Anor, and at Minas Ithil, and at Orthanc in the ring of Isengard. The chief and master of these was under the Dome of Stars at Osgiliath before its ruin. The three others were far away in the North. In the house of Elrond it is told that they were at Annúminas, and Amon Sûl, and Elendil's Phone was on the Tower Hills that look towards Mithlond in the Gulf of Lune where the grey ships lie.
"Each palantÃ*r replied to each, but all those in Gondor were ever open to the view of Osgiliath. Now it appears that, as the rock of Orthanc has withstood the storms of time, so there the palantÃ*r of that tower has remained. But alone it could do nothing but see small images of things far off and days remote. Very useful, no doubt, that was to Saruman; yet it seems that he was not content. Further and further abroad he gazed, until he cast his gaze upon Barad-dûr. Then he was caught!
"Who knows where the lost PHones of Arnor and Gondor now lie buried, or drowned deep? But one. at least Sauron must have obtained and mastered to his purposes. I guess that it was the Ithil-phone, for he took Minas Ithil long ago and turned it into an evil place: Minas Morgul, it has become."

[Grey_Wolf]

"Easy it is now to guess how quickly the roving eye of Saruman was trapped and held; and how ever since he has been persuaded from afar, and daunted when persuasion would not serve. The biter bit, the hawk under the eagle's foot, the spider in a steel web! How long, I wonder, has he been constrained to come often to his glass for inspection and instruction, and the Orthanc-stone so bent towards Barad-dûr that, if any save a will of adamant now looks into it, it will bear his mind and sight swiftly thither? And how it draws one to itself! Have I not felt it? Even now my heart desires to test my will upon it, to see if I could not wrench it from him and turn it where I would-to look across the wide seas of water and of time to Tirion the Fair, and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Fëanor at their work, while both the White Tree and the Golden were in flower!" He sighed and fell silent.
"I wish I had known all this before," said Pippin. "I had no notion of what I was doing."
"Oh yes, you had," said Gandalf. "You knew you were behaving wrongly and foolishly; and you told yourself so, though you did not listen. I did not tell you all this before, because it is only by musing on all that has happened that I have at last understood, even as we ride together. But if I had spoken sooner, it would not have lessened your desire, or made it easier to resist. On the contrary! No, the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart."
"It does," said Pippin. "If all the seven phones were laid out before me now, I should shut my eyes and put my hands in my pockets."
"Good!" said Gandalf. "That is what I hoped."
"But I should like to know-" Pippin began.
"Mercy!" cried Gandalf. "If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?"

[Grey_Wolf]

"The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-earth and Over-heaven and of the Sundering Seas ' laughed Pippin. "Of course! What less? But I am not in a hurry tonight. At the moment I was just wondering about the black shadow. I heard you shout "messenger of Mordor". What was it? What could it do at Isengard?"
"It was a Black Rider on wings, a Nazgûl," said Gandalf. "It could have taken you away to the Dark Tower."
"But it was not coming for me, was it?" faltered Pippin. "I mean, it didn't know that I had... '
"Of course not," said Gandalf. "It is two hundred leagues or more in straight flight from Barad-dûr to Orthanc, and even a Nazgûl would take a few hours to fly between them. But Saruman certainly looked in the Stone since the orc-raid, and more of his secret thought, I do not doubt, has been read than he intended. A messenger has been sent to find out what he is doing. And after what has happened tonight another will come, I think, and swiftly. So Saruman will come to the last pinch of the vice that he has put his hand in. He has no captive to send. He has no Stone to see with, and cannot answer the summons. Sauron will only believe that he is withholding the captive and refusing to use the Stone. It will not help Saruman to tell the truth to the messenger. For Isengard may be ruined, yet he is still safe in Orthanc. So whether he will or no, he will appear a rebel. Yet he rejected us, so as to avoid that very thing! What he will do in such a plight, I cannot guess. He has power still, I think, while in Orthanc, to resist the Nine Riders. He may try to do so. He may try to trap the Nazgûl, or at least to slay the thing on which it now rides the air. In that case let Rohan look to its horses!
"But I cannot tell how it will fall out, well or ill for us. It may be that the counsels of the Enemy will be confused, or hindered by his wrath with Saruman. It may be that he will learn that I was there and stood upon the stairs of Orthanc-with hobbits at my tail. Or that an heir of Elendil lives and stood beside me. If Wormtongue was not deceived by the armour of Rohan, he would remember Aragorn and the title that he claimed. That is what I fear. And so we fly - not from danger but into greater danger. Every stride of Shadowfax bears you nearer to the Land of Shadow, Peregrin Took."
Pippin made no answer, but clutched his cloak, as if a sudden chill had struck him. Grey land passed under them.
"See now!" said Gandalf. "The Westfold dales are opening before us. Here we come back to the eastward road. The dark shadow yonder is the mouth of the Deeping-coomb. That way lies Aglarond and the Glittering Caves. Do not ask me about them. Ask Gimli, if you meet again, and for the first time you may get an answer longer than you wish. You will not see the caves yourself, not on this journey. Soon they will be far behind."
"I thought you were going to stop at Helm's Deep!" said Pippin. "Where are you going then?"
"To Minas Tirith, before the seas of war surround it."
"Oh! And how far is that?"
"Leagues upon leagues," answered Gandalf. "Thrice as far as the dwellings of King Théoden, and they are more than a hundred miles east from here, as the messengers of Mordor fly. Shadowfax must run a longer road. Which will prove the swifter?
"We shall ride now till daybreak, and that is some hours away. Then even Shadowfax must rest, in some hollow of the hills: at Edoras, I hope. Sleep, if you can! You may see the first glimmer of dawn upon the golden roof of the house of Eorl. And in two days thence you shall see the purple shadow of Mount Mindolluin and the walls of the tower of Denethor white in the morning.
"Away now, Shadowfax! Run, greatheart, run as you have never run before! Now we are come to the lands where you were foaled and every stone you know. Run now! Hope is in speed!"

[Grey_Wolf]

Shadowfax's engine roared louder, as if a trumpet had summoned him to battle. Then he accelerated forward. Fire flew from his exhausts; night rushed over him.

As he fell slowly into sleep, Pippin had a strange feeling: he and Gandalf were still as stone, seated upon the statue of a rolling bike, while the world disappeared beneath his wheels in a greyish blur.

[Grey_Wolf]

Book 4.1: The Taming of Smeagol

"Well, master, we're in a fix and no mistake," said Sam Gamgee. He stood despondently with hunched shoulders beside Frodo, and peered out with puckered eyes into the gloom.

[Grey_Wolf]

Three nights had passed since the Breakup of the Homies. Now they appeared to be going in circles on the ancient barren slopes and stones of the Emyn Muil. Yet on the whole they were moving eastwards.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

"I swear I've seen that Rock before," said Sam.
"How would know?" replied Frodo. "They all look the same around here."
"No, I wrote 'SG & FB were here' on this one."

[Grey_Wolf]

They walked a bit more until they came to a precipice overlooking the marshes beyond the cliffs.

"I think we'll either have to turn back or camp for the night here." said Frodo.

"Camp for the night it is. I'm starving and we still have quite a supply of Elven MRE's left and Gainomax Recovery." Sam decided.

They retreated to a small rocky hideaway some distance from the cliff where Sam lit up the kerosene stove and soon the MRE's were heated up and woolfed down with a couple of sips of the energy drink.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

"Well," said Frodo, "It looks like we might have to find a way down tomorrow, so long as this storm passes" he noted, peering into the murky clouds heading north from the marshes

[Grey_Wolf]

"I'll warrant we'll have to." said Sam."By the way, I think we're being followed. I think saw those eyes again. Have you seen them?"

"No I haven't." said Frodo."I heard nothing and seen nothing for two nights now."

"Grrr! Those eyes did give me a turn! But perhaps we've shaken him off at last, the miserable slinker. Gollum! I'll give him gollum in his throat, if ever I get my hands on his neck."

"I hope you'll never need to," said Frodo. "I don't know how he followed us; but it may be that he's lost us again, as you say. In this dry bleak land we can't leave many footprints, nor much scent, even for his snuffling nose."

But that day wore on, and when afternoon faded towards evening they were still scrambling along the ridge and had found no way of escape.

[Grey_Wolf]

As they walked along the cliff they now and then thought they heard faints sounds of following footsteps.

Finally they were brought to a halt. The depression in front of them looked deeper than the ones they've scrambled in and out of all day.

At the edge they stopped and looked down.

"It doesn't look so far to the bottom perhaps we can climb down." said Frodo.

"Yeah, we might do that but I'm going first." said Sam.

"You?" said Frodo. "What's made you change your mind about climbing?"

[Grey_Wolf]

"No, no, Sam, you nitwit." said Frodo."I'll try first."

And with that he scrambled over the lip of the cliff and began decending. After a couple of meters he lost his footing and slipped. He gave a start and shouted.

"Frodo! Frodo!" cried Sam."What happened!"

"OK! OK! I'm here. I just slipped. I'm standing on a small ledge but it's hard to see here." replied Frodo.

"Wait, am I come back soon. I just remembered something which I left in my backpack. A moment." said Sam.

A few minutes later a grey, faintly shining rope ladder was dangling in front of Frodo. He grabbed hold and climbed back up and lay down panting heavily on the cold stone of the cliff.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

"That's strange," said Frodo. "It was like I was blinded, until that rope came came down. It shone."

[Grey_Wolf]

"I should have been half drowned down there, or washed clean off," said Frodo. "What a piece of luck you had that rope!"
"Better luck if I'd thought of it sooner," said Sam. "Maybe you remember them putting the ropes in the boats, as we started off: in the elvish country. I took a fancy to it, and I stowed a coil in my pack. Years ago, it seems. "It may be a help in many needs," he said: Haldir, or one of those folk. And he spoke right."
"A pity I didn't think of bringing another length," said Frodo; "but I left the Company in such a hurry and confusion. If only we had enough we could use it to get down. How long is your rope, I wonder?"

Sam paid it out slowly, measuring it with his arms: "Five, ten, twenty, thirty meters, more or less," he said.
"Who'd have thought it!" Frodo exclaimed.
"Ah! Who would? ' said Sam. "Elves are wonderful folk. It looks a bit thin, but it's tough; and soft as milk to the hand. Packs close too, and as light as light. Wonderful folk to be sure!"
"Thirty meters!" said Frodo considering. "I believe it would be enough. If the storm passes before nightfall, I'm going to try it."