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the siege of gondor 1067
‘Gollum,’ said Pippin. ‘How on earth could they be going
about with him, even following him? And I could see that
Faramir did not like the place he was taking them to any
more than you do. What is wrong?’
‘I cannot answer that now,’ said Gandalf. ‘Yet my heart
guessed that Frodo and Gollum would meet before the end.
For good, or for evil. But of Cirith Ungol I will not speak
tonight. Treachery, treachery I fear; treachery of that miserable
creature. But so it must be. Let us remember that a
traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not
intend. It can be so, sometimes. Good night!’
The next day came with a morning like a brown dusk, and
the hearts of men, lifted for a while by the return of Faramir,
sank low again. The winged Shadows were not seen again
that day, yet ever and anon, high above the city, a faint cry
would come, and many who heard it would stand stricken
with a passing dread, while the less stout-hearted quailed and
wept.
And now Faramir was gone again. ‘They give him no rest,’
some murmured. ‘The Lord drives his son too hard, and now
he must do the duty of two, for himself and for the one that
will not return.’ And ever men looked northward, asking:
‘Where are the Riders of Rohan?’
In truth Faramir did not go by his own choosing. But the
Lord of the City was master of his Council, and he was in
no mood that day to bow to others. Early in the morning the
Council had been summoned. There all the captains judged
that because of the threat in the South their force was too
weak to make any stroke of war on their own part, unless
perchance the Riders of Rohan yet should come. Meanwhile
they must man the walls and wait.
‘Yet,’ said Denethor, ‘we should not lightly abandon the
outer defences, the Rammas made with so great a labour.
And the Enemy must pay dearly for the crossing of the River.
That he cannot do, in force to assail the City, either north of
Cair Andros because of the marshes, or southwards towards