return

1034 the return of the king
Then Aragorn said: ‘The hour is come at last. Now I go
to Pelargir upon Anduin, and ye shall come after me. And
when all this land is clean of the servants of Sauron, I will
hold the oath fulfilled, and ye shall have peace and depart for
ever. For I am Elessar, Isildur’s heir of Gondor.’
And with that he bade Halbarad unfurl the great standard
which he had brought; and behold! it was black, and if there
was any device upon it, it was hidden in the darkness. Then
there was silence, and not a whisper nor a sigh was heard
again all the long night. The Company camped beside the
Stone, but they slept little, because of the dread of the
Shadows that hedged them round.
But when the dawn came, cold and pale, Aragorn rose at
once, and he led the Company forth upon the journey of
greatest haste and weariness that any among them had
known, save he alone, and only his will held them to go on.
No other mortal Men could have endured it, none but the
Dúnedain of the North, and with them Gimli the Dwarf and
Legolas of the Elves.
They passed Tarlang’s Neck and came into Lamedon; and
the Shadow Host pressed behind and fear went on before
them, until they came to Calembel upon Ciril, and the sun
went down like blood behind Pinnath Gelin away in the West
behind them. The township and the fords of Ciril they found
deserted, for many men had gone away to war, and all that
were left fled to the hills at the rumour of the coming of the
King of the Dead. But the next day there came no dawn, and
the Grey Company passed on into the darkness of the Storm
of Mordor and were lost to mortal sight; but the Dead
followed them.