return

1184 the return of the king
small domed chamber in the midst of the roof, with low doors
facing east and west. Eastward Sam could see the plain of
Mordor vast and dark below, and the burning mountain far
away. A fresh turmoil was surging in its deep wells, and the
rivers of fire blazed so fiercely that even at this distance of
many miles the light of them lit the tower-top with a red
glare. Westward the view was blocked by the base of the great
turret that stood at the back of this upper court and reared
its horn high above the crest of the encircling hills. Light
gleamed in a window-slit. Its door was not ten yards from
where Sam stood. It was open but dark, and from just within
its shadow the voices came.
At first Sam did not listen; he took a pace out of the
eastward door and looked about. At once he saw that up here
the fighting had been fiercest. All the court was choked with
dead orcs, or their severed and scattered heads and limbs.
The place stank of death. A snarl followed by a blow and a
cry sent him darting back into hiding. An orc-voice rose in
anger, and he knew it again at once, harsh, brutal, cold. It
was Shagrat speaking, Captain of the Tower.
‘You won’t go again, you say? Curse you, Snaga, you little
maggot! If you think I’m so damaged that it’s safe to flout
me, you’re mistaken. Come here, and I’ll squeeze your eyes
out, like I did to Radbug just now. And when some new lads
come, I’ll deal with you: I’ll send you to Shelob.’
‘They won’t come, not before you’re dead anyway,’
answered Snaga surlily. ‘I’ve told you twice that Gorbag’s
swine got to the gate first, and none of ours got out. Lagduf
and Muzgash ran through, but they were shot. I saw it from
a window, I tell you. And they were the last.’
‘Then you must go. I must stay here anyway. But I’m hurt.
The Black Pits take that filthy rebel Gorbag!’ Shagrat’s voice
trailed off into a string of foul names and curses. ‘I gave
him better than I got, but he knifed me, the dung, before I
throttled him. You must go, or I’ll eat you. News must get
through to Lugbúrz, or we’ll both be for the Black Pits. Yes,
you too. You won’t escape by skulking here.’