towers

the black gate is closed 839
He conquered it long ago. It is a very terrible place now.
Travellers shiver when they see it, they creep out of sight,
they avoid its shadow. But master will have to go that way.
That is the only other way. For the mountains are lower
there, and the old road goes up and up, until it reaches a dark
pass at the top, and then it goes down, down, again – to
Gorgoroth.’ His voice sank to a whisper and he shuddered.
‘But how will that help us?’ asked Sam. ‘Surely the Enemy
knows all about his own mountains, and that road will be
guarded as close as this? The tower isn’t empty, is it?’
‘O no, not empty!’ whispered Gollum. ‘It seems empty,
but it isn’t, O no! Very dreadful things live there. Orcs, yes
always Orcs; but worse things, worse things live there too.
The road climbs right under the shadow of the walls and
passes the gate. Nothing moves on the road that they don’t
know about. The things inside know: the Silent Watchers.’
‘So that’s your advice is it,’ said Sam, ‘that we should go
another long march south, to find ourselves in the same fix
or a worse one, when we get there, if we ever do?’
‘No, no indeed,’ said Gollum. ‘Hobbits must see, must try
to understand. He does not expect attack that way. His Eye
is all round, but it attends more to some places than to others.
He can’t see everything all at once, not yet. You see, He has
conquered all the country west of the Shadowy Mountains
down to the River, and He holds the bridges now. He thinks
no one can come to the Moontower without fighting big
battle at the bridges, or getting lots of boats which they cannot
hide and He will know about.’
‘You seem to know a lot about what He’s doing and thinking,’
said Sam. ‘Have you been talking to Him lately? Or just
hobnobbing with Orcs?’
‘Not nice hobbit, not sensible,’ said Gollum, giving Sam
an angry glance and turning to Frodo. ‘Sméagol has talked
to Orcs, yes of course, before he met master, and to many
peoples: he has walked very far. And what he says now many
peoples are saying. It’s here in the North that the big danger
is for Him, and for us. He will come out of the Black Gate