towers

678 the two towers
man and strong lad able to bear arms, all who have horses,
let them be ready in the saddle at the gate ere the second
hour from noon!’
‘Dear lord!’ cried Wormtongue. ‘It is as I feared. This
wizard has bewitched you. Are none to be left to defend the
Golden Hall of your fathers, and all your treasure? None to
guard the Lord of the Mark?’
‘If this is bewitchment,’ said Théoden, ‘it seems to me
more wholesome than your whisperings. Your leechcraft
ere long would have had me walking on all fours like a beast.
No, not one shall be left, not even Gríma. Gríma shall ride
too. Go! You have yet time to clean the rust from your
sword.’
‘Mercy, lord!’ whined Wormtongue, grovelling on the
ground. ‘Have pity on one worn out in your service. Send
me not from your side! I at least will stand by you when all
others have gone. Do not send your faithful Gríma away!’
‘You have my pity,’ said Théoden. ‘And I do not send you
from my side. I go myself to war with my men. I bid you
come with me and prove your faith.’
Wormtongue looked from face to face. In his eyes was the
hunted look of a beast seeking some gap in the ring of his
enemies. He licked his lips with a long pale tongue. ‘Such a
resolve might be expected from a lord of the House of Eorl,
old though he be,’ he said. ‘But those who truly love him
would spare his failing years. Yet I see that I come too late.
Others, whom the death of my lord would perhaps grieve
less, have already persuaded him. If I cannot undo their work,
hear me at least in this, lord! One who knows your mind and
honours your commands should be left in Edoras. Appoint
a faithful steward. Let your counsellor Gríma keep all things
till your return – and I pray that we may see it, though no
wise man will deem it hopeful.’
Éomer laughed. ‘And if that plea does not excuse you from
war, most noble Wormtongue,’ he said, ‘what office of less
honour would you accept? To carry a sack of meal up into
the mountains – if any man would trust you with it?’