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1032 the return of the king
though for all that he could then tell it might have been
twilight in some later year, or in some other world.
The Company now mounted again, and Gimli returned to
Legolas. They rode in file, and evening came on and a deep
blue dusk; and still fear pursued them. Legolas turning to
speak to Gimli looked back and the Dwarf saw before his
face the glitter in the Elf ’s bright eyes. Behind them rode
Elladan, last of the Company, but not the last of those that
took the downward road.
‘The Dead are following,’ said Legolas. ‘I see shapes of
Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud,
and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead
are following.’
‘Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned,’
said Elladan.
The Company came at last out of the ravine, as suddenly
as if they had issued from a crack in a wall; and there lay the
uplands of a great vale before them, and the stream beside
them went down with a cold voice over many falls.
‘Where in Middle-earth are we?’ said Gimli; and Elladan
answered: ‘We have descended from the uprising of the
Morthond, the long chill river that flows at last to the sea that
washes the walls of Dol Amroth. You will not need to ask
hereafter how comes its name: Blackroot men call it.’
The Morthond Vale made a great bay that beat up against
the sheer southern faces of the mountains. Its steep slopes
were grass-grown; but all was grey in that hour, for the sun
had gone, and far below lights twinkled in the homes of Men.
The vale was rich and many folk dwelt there.
Then without turning Aragorn cried aloud so that all could
hear: ‘Friends, forget your weariness! Ride now, ride! We
must come to the Stone of Erech ere this day passes, and
long still is the way.’ So without looking back they rode the
mountain-fields, until they came to a bridge over the growing
torrent and found a road that went down into the land.